Christmas Day at Hogwarts

Hey everyone! I hope you all had an excellent new years and Christmas time if you do celebrate it. I travelled over from L.A to Orlando, Florida to meet my family for our annual Christmas vacation. We spent our Christmas Day in the most magical place I can imagine, not Disney but Hogwarts!

Since I last visited the Harry Potter section of the park has been extended massively. The original castle and Hogsmeade village lay in the Islands of Adventure theme park but it has now been connected to the main Universal Studios theme park through Hogsmeade station and Kings Cross. You can take the Hogwarts Express between the two parks if you have bought the park hopper ticket. The Hogwarts Express was honestly one of my favourite parts about the new additions because as you’re travelling you watch the scenery of Hogwarts and London pass by and can hear Harry, Ron & Hermione have a conversation in the hallway.

The new section of Harry Potter is a London, Grimmauld Place and Diagon Alley addition. The Diagon Alley part is absolutely huge and you can visit Gringotts, Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, Florean Fortescue’s, Ollivanders and many more. The new ride Escape from Gringotts is a great blend of 3D effects and roller coaster.

The addition of Knockturn Alley also adds a dark twist to the theme park which didn’t pay much attention to the darker side of Harry Potter. You can pay Borgin & Burke’s a visit where everyone who works there tries to bully you and all of the merch is really creepy.

One thing I wish I had done but didn’t was to buy an interactive wand and check off all the points where you can do magic. I saw a lot of kids having fun with the interactive aspects of the park. You can buy regular collector’s wands but I think the interaction makes your experience that much more special.

I can’t wait to return to the Orlando Wizarding World and have high hopes for the Hollywood opening on April 7th although I’m not expecting it to be as big as the Floridian one.